The Ethereum blockchain underwent a successful Shepela upgrade on April 12, allowing validators to withdraw their staked ether (ETH) from the Beacon Chain after three years. After seeing over 1 million ETH in withdrawals in the first week, the amount of ETH staked has now surpassed the number of ETH being withdrawn for the first time since the Shepela upgrade.

Data from on-chain analytics firm Nansen shows that more ETH is currently being staked than is being extracted. As of April 17, the ETH staking volume of 124,000 ETH surpassed the withdrawal volume of 64,800 ETH for the first time ever. In the last 24 hours, the amount of ETH in withdrawals was 94,968 against 27,076. The first round was mainly partial withdrawals from Lido and older validators. It takes about three days to get into the withdrawal queue.

The Shepela upgrade was presented as a make-or-break situation for the Ethereum blockchain as the unlocked ETH was at risk of a massive sell-off. However, most validators are reissuing their unlocked ether. Crypto exchange Binance will open withdrawals on April 19.

Related: Ethereum Price Metrics Suggest ETH May Not Sell After Shepela Hard Fork

Of the 1 million ETH withdrawn, the three addresses resold a total of 19,844 ETH. Three addresses moved ETH to centralized exchanges (CEX) following the pullout, with 71,444 ETH sent to different exchanges. Other whales did the same, some sending it to Huobi addresses and some to CEX. According For data shared by LookOnChain.

Most early exits were rewarded, and some validators like Kraken had to exit to comply with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ruling. Currently, 22,231 validators have signed up for a full exit out of 574,624, while 910,930 ETH out of 18.6 million staked ETH are planned to be withdrawn.

Another major reason for the decreasing withdrawals could be the price of ETH, as the average price of ETH staking is around $2,137.

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